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"Don't Close Your Eyes, American Troops in Iraq" - Provoked by Trump's Crazed Attack, Shiite Militias Threaten US Military |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=51519"><span class="small">Juan Cole, Informed Comment</span></a>
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Thursday, 09 January 2020 14:22 |
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Cole writes: "According to al-Bina', Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (the Movement of the Nobles of the Party of God), led by Akram al-Kaabi, thanked Iran because it 'once again helped Iraq to regain its sovereignty and prestige by targeting the bases of the evil occupying American forces on the usurped lands of our country in revenge for our dear guest Qasem Soleimani.'"
Iranian missile launch. (photo: ABC News)
"Don't Close Your Eyes, American Troops in Iraq" - Provoked by Trump's Crazed Attack, Shiite Militias Threaten US Military
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment
09 January 20
 ccording to al-Bina’, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (the Movement of the Nobles of the Party of God), led by Akram al-Kaabi, thanked Iran because it “once again helped Iraq to regain its sovereignty and prestige by targeting the bases of the evil occupying American forces on the usurped lands of our country in revenge for our dear guest Qasem Soleimani.” This Iran-backed militia forms part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a kind of Iraqi National Guard, but it also fights Sunni fundamentalists in Syria. Its leadership was thinking Iran for sending ballistic missiles on Iraqi bases that host US troops.
The movement’s official spokesman, Nasr Al-Shammari, warned American soldiers in Iraq, saying: “Do not close your eyes, for the revenge of the martyr Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis is inevitably coming at the hands of the Iraqis, until the last American soldier is expelled.” In February of 2019, the US had designated the al-Nujaba’ a terrorist organization.
On Sunday January 5, the Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdulmahdi asked parliament to vote to expel US troops from Iraq, and the country’s legislature did so vote by a majority. This vote was not, as US officials keep saying, “advisory.” It was a vote of the parliament, and that body asked the prime minister to implement it in the executive branch.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Trump himself have insisted that US troops won’t be withdrawn from Iraq because “the Iraqi people” want them there. I’m not sure where Esper and Trump are finding “Iraqi people” to overrule the elected Iraqi government. But the fact is that if the Iraqi government wants US troops out, they will have to leave or face legal liabilities for any deaths they cause. They could even be prosecuted in US courts in the absence of a Status of Forces Agreement.
Likewise, Qais al-Khazali, the head of the League of the Righteous (Asa’ib Ahl al-Haqq), a radical Shiite militia in Iraq that forms part of the PMF, called Wednesday for Iraqi militia attacks on US troops in Iraq to match those of Iran in revenge of the Trump administration murder of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the PMF or Shiite militias. On Tuesday evening, Iran fired some 25 ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases that house US troops, but appear to have been careful to produce no casualties.
The Iraqi parliament in early 2018 recognized the PMF as part of the Iraqi military, and its line of command goes up to Prime Minister Adil Abdulmahdi. This week the United States branded the League of the Righteous a terrorist group and made al-Khazali a “designated global terrorist.”
In an angry Tweet, al-Khazali said that Iraqis were a courageous and competitive people, and their response to the US will not be of less severity than that of Iran.
As if in response to his Tweet, two katyusha rockets hit the Green Zone where the US embassy is located late on Wednesday, according to an Iraqi government official. The official, who declined to allow the Iraqi press to use his name, said that the rockets were fired by a coalition of Shiite militias, including the League of the Righteous and the Kata’ib Hizbullah (Brigades of the Party of God). The head of Kata’ib Hizbullah had been al-Muhandis, whom Trump assassinated last week.
The PMF on Wednesday issued a “Covenant of Faithfulness” to the memory of al-Muhandis in which they thanked all ranks of Iraqi society for their brave stance in following in his footsteps and likened his martyrdom to that of Imam Husain, the slain grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Al-Muhandis was laid to rest at Najaf on Wednesday.
The spokesman of the Sadr Movement, Hakim al-Zamili, said that Iraqis have the right to target US troops in Iraq because they are occupation forces. (This is not true; the Iraqi government invited US troops into the country in 2014 after the ISIL terrorist organization took over 40 percent of Iraq and the Iraqi army collapsed).
Al-Zamili continued, saying that “our ranks must be closed, because the enemy is preparing to eradicate and eliminate us, and we must not give in to the United States but rather must draw up plans confront it.”
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RSN: War With Iran Is at Stake - and Democrats' High Jumps Over Low Standards Aren't Helping |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=48990"><span class="small">Norman Solomon, Reader Supported News</span></a>
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Thursday, 09 January 2020 12:49 |
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Solomon writes: "The huge crisis with Iran is more dangerous because so many Democrats have been talking out of both sides of their congressional mouths."
Sen. Chris Murphy. (photo: Getty)
War With Iran Is at Stake - and Democrats' High Jumps Over Low Standards Aren't Helping
By Norman Solomon, Reader Supported News
09 January 20
 he huge crisis with Iran is more dangerous because so many Democrats have been talking out of both sides of their congressional mouths.
An example is the recent rhetoric from Sen. Chris Murphy. “The attack on our embassy in Baghdad is horrifying but predictable,” he tweeted on the last day of 2019. “Trump has rendered America impotent in the Middle East. No one fears us, no one listens to us. America has been reduced to huddling in safe rooms, hoping the bad guys will go away. What a disgrace.”
Fast forward one week: Murphy was on the Senate floor declaring “we can choose to get off of this path of escalation and make decisions that correct this president’s recklessness and keep Americans safe.”
On the same day, in Murphy’s home state, the Connecticut Mirror reported that he “has emerged as a leading critic of Trump administration hostility to Iran” and called him “the most vocal” Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “in criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to kill Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike.”
It’s a partisan pattern that’s all too common among Democrats on Capitol Hill – goading Trump as a wimp and then bemoaning his aggressive actions. And so, in a matter of days, Murphy was decrying the “recklessness” of the same president he’d alleged “has rendered America impotent in the Middle East” because “no one fears us.”
Murphy is one of the better senators on foreign policy – and that’s a key point here. He still couldn’t resist baiting Trump in a way that implicitly scorned him for failure to use enough military violence.
At a time like this, the spirit of Wayne Morse is badly needed. During his 24-year career representing Oregon in the Senate, he rose to prominence as a rigorously consistent defender of international law as well as the U.S. Constitution. An unwavering foe of might-makes-right foreign policy, he unequivocally opposed the Vietnam War from the outset.
Morse never backed down. And he refused to play along with questions based on false premises, as network TV footage makes clear. During his appearance on the CBS program “Face the Nation” in May 1964, fireworks began a split second after moderator Peter Lisagor said: “Senator, the Constitution gives to the president of the United States the sole responsibility for the conduct of foreign policy.”
“Couldn’t be more wrong,” Morse shot back. “You couldn’t make a more unsound legal statement than the one you have just made. This is the promulgation of an old fallacy that foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States. That’s nonsense.”
Lisagor sounded a bit exasperated: “To whom does it belong then, Senator?”
Morse didn’t hesitate. “It belongs to the American people,” the senator fired back. And he added: “What I’m saying is – under our Constitution all the president is, is the administrator of the people’s foreign policy, those are his prerogatives, and I’m pleading that the American people be given the facts about foreign policy —
“You know, Senator, that the American people cannot formulate and execute foreign policy —”
“Why do you say that? Why, you’re a man of little faith in democracy if you make that kind of comment,” Morse retorted. “I have complete faith in the ability of the American people to follow the facts if you’ll give them. And my charge against my government is we’re not giving the American people the facts.”
Three months later, Morse was one of only two senators to vote against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that opened the floodgates to the mass carnage of the Vietnam War.
When President Lyndon Johnson’s iconic adviser Gen. Maxwell Taylor – a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and ex-ambassador to South Vietnam – appeared before the Foreign Relations Committee on February 17, 1966, this exchange (preserved on video) ensued:
Sen. Morse: “We’re engaged in a historic debate in this country, we have honest differences of opinion. I happen to hold to the point of view that it isn’t going to be too long before the American people as a people will repudiate our war in Southeast Asia.”
Gen. Taylor: “That of course is good news to Hanoi, Senator.”
Sen. Morse: “Oh I know that that’s the smear artists that your militarists give to those of us that have honest differences of opinion with you, but I don’t intend to get down in the gutter with you and engage in that kind of debate, General. I’m simply saying that in my judgment the president of the United States is already losing the people of this country by the millions in connection with this war in Southeast Asia. And all I’m asking is – if the people decide that this war should be stopped in Southeast Asia, are you going to take the position that’s a weakness on the home front in a democracy?”
Gen. Taylor: “I would feel that our people were badly misguided and did not understand the consequences of such a disaster.”
Sen. Morse: “Well, we agree on one thing, that they can be badly misguided – and you and the president, in my judgment, have been misguiding them for a long time in this war.”
Much has changed during the last five decades, but deception remains central to the state of perpetual war that funnels mega-billions in profits to the military-industrial complex. The vast majority of Congress members are part of that complex, including most Democrats. Instead of thanking those members of Congress for not being worse, progressive constituents should organize to insist that they quickly become much better – or face escalating protests as well as political consequences.
Norman Solomon is co-founder and national coordinator of RootsAction.org. He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2016 Democratic National Convention and is currently a coordinator of the relaunched independent Bernie Delegates Network. Solomon is the author of a dozen books, including War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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FOCUS: We Will Create a Government That Represents the Working Class, Not Billionaires |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=45508"><span class="small">Bernie Sanders, The Des Moines Register</span></a>
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Thursday, 09 January 2020 11:52 |
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Sanders writes: "As the Feb. 3 caucus approaches, Iowans face a choice: Are we going to settle for a status quo that is leaving so many behind? Or are we going to come together to finally transform our country so that our government works for all of us?"
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Denver in September. (photo: David Zalubowski/AP)
We Will Create a Government That Represents the Working Class, Not Billionaires
By Bernie Sanders, The Des Moines Register
09 January 20
No matter the issue, our agenda is rooted in a core principle: “Not me, us.” That means justice for Iowans who have been ignored.
s the Feb. 3 caucus approaches, Iowans face a choice: Are we going to settle for a status quo that is leaving so many behind? Or are we going to come together to finally transform our country so that our government works for all of us?
Our grassroots campaign clearly represents the latter — which is why polls consistently show us defeating Donald Trump, who is the most dangerous and corrupt president in modern history.
As you consider which Democratic candidate to support, you deserve to know exactly how our agenda stands out — and how it takes on the corporations, the billionaires and the corruption that is harming America.
We are the only leading campaign that has not taken any money from billionaires. We reject corporate money. Unlike some other candidates, our campaign is not relying on a super PAC — we are pushing to outlaw super PACs. We are a 100 percent grassroots-funded effort through small-dollar donations from working people.
Our campaign is taking on the insurance and drug companies by unequivocally supporting a Medicare for All program that will make health care a human right. Unlike some of our opponents, we are not proposing to appease pharmaceutical companies and the health insurance industry that are bankrupting over 500,000 people every year and denying Americans adequate medical treatment — we are going to end their profiteering once and for all.
Our campaign is taking on the fossil fuel industry whose emissions are creating a climate emergency that can be seen in Iowa’s devastating floods. We are demanding a Green New Deal that will transition us to 100% renewable energy and create 20 million good-paying jobs in the process.
Our campaign is taking on corporate agribusinesses that are polluting Iowa and using their market power to squeeze Iowa’s family farms. We will break up those monopolies and enforce environmental laws.
Our campaign is taking on the greed of corporate CEOs who pay workers inadequate wages, offshore jobs, bust unions and evade taxes. We are demanding better wages, new workplace protections and new laws that force large profitable corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.
You can read our campaign’s detailed plans at BernieSanders.com. You will find that no matter the issue, our agenda is rooted in a core principle: “Not me, us.”
What that means is that our campaign is focused on making sure the government stops representing billionaires and start representing us — the working class of this country.
“Not me, us” means our campaign is about justice for people like Rebecca in Wellman, Iowa, who was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease and then saw a pharmaceutical company charge her $375,000 for the medicine she needed. When we defeat Trump, we are going to end that corporate greed — whether the pharmaceutical companies like it or not.
“Not me, us” means our campaign is about justice for Iowans like April from Boone, who attended one of our campaign’s town hall meetings. She told us about how she was between jobs and tragically lost her pregnancy — and then faced a massive medical bill. When we defeat Trump, we’re canceling Americans’ medical debt.
“Not me, us” means our campaign is about justice for Iowans like Bob from Burlington, who told me his story about how he was one of 125 union workers laid off from Siemens’ factory — all while Trump gave Siemens hundreds of millions of dollars of government contracts. When we defeat Trump, we are terminating those contracts, and giving them to companies that treat workers with the respect they deserve.
Of course, making this agenda a reality will not be easy. But that is why our campaign is so focused on “not me, us.” It means that to transform America, we cannot simply rely on a president alone — we must build a mass movement that fights for justice not just during an election, but once we are in office.
We are building that movement — and with Iowans’ help on Feb. 3, we can start making this working-class agenda a reality.
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Against All Odds, It Looks Like Bernie Sanders Might Be the Democratic Nominee After All |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=52893"><span class="small">Max Burns, The Independent</span></a>
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Thursday, 09 January 2020 09:23 |
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Burns writes: "With the first-in-the-nation Iowa Democratic caucus less than a month away, even top-tier presidential contenders like former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders are struggling to capture voter attention. In a nation overwhelmed by political crises, is anyone surprised?"
Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Getty)
Against All Odds, It Looks Like Bernie Sanders Might Be the Democratic Nominee After All
By Max Burns, The Independent
09 January 20
Biden and Buttigieg have split the center of the party — and polls show Democratic voters are unexpectedly looking for a much more progressive candidate
 ith the first-in-the-nation Iowa Democratic caucus less than a month away, even top-tier presidential contenders like former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders are struggling to capture voter attention. In a nation overwhelmed by political crises, is anyone surprised?
According to a recent Economist/YouGov poll, only a third of Americans are paying “a lot” of attention to the 2020 presidential campaign. Nearly half of those polled admitted they hadn’t given much or any thought to who they plan to support. Pundits and political elites correctly call 2020 the most consequential election in modern American history – but rank-and-file American voters are apparently in no hurry to make up their minds.
That isn’t surprising. The December Democratic debate generated the lowest ratings of any 2020 outing, drawing just over six million viewers. That pales in comparison to the over 18 million viewers who tuned in for the first Democratic debate in June. There are increasing signs that the American people are exhausted by the nonstop nature of our modern political theater. From a contentious presidential impeachment to possible war with Iran, Americans are overloaded and burned out by an endless circus of political crises.
Among those voters who make up the Democrats’ activist base, though, a Morning Consult national poll reveals a surprising shift in the ideological makeup of Democratic politics. Unabashedly progressive candidates Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren capture nearly 40 per cent of Democratic primary voters. The appeal of a progressive presidential candidate is so strong, Morning Consult found, that even most Biden supporters consider Sanders their second choice.
Last September, I wrote about what might happen if progressive voters had to make a choice between Warren and Sanders. As Joe Biden fades in Iowa and New Hampshire, the question of how (and if) progressives unify behind a single candidate is now a pressing concern. Divided between two candidates, progressive Democrats are unwittingly providing a lifeline to Biden’s struggling campaign. Unified, their momentum becomes unstoppable.
Just last week, the Sanders campaign blew the doors off its fourth quarter fundraising, generating a staggering $34.5 million. Warren raised an impressive $21.2 million. Combined, that more than doubles Joe Biden’s $22.7 million haul. Divided though they may be, the death of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party appears greatly exaggerated.
The battle for the soul of the Democratic Party is real, and the progressive wing increasingly has both a fundraising and organizing edge.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has emerged as the center of political gravity for both the Beltway media and progressive activists, recently flexed her muscles with a series of rallies supporting the Sanders campaign. That creates a serious challenge for Warren, who is struggling to regain momentum after a series of run-ins with progressive activists on everything from her private-sector legal work to the details of her phased Medicare-for-All plan.
Nothing has proven more surprising than the remarkable comeback of Bernie Sanders. In October, Sanders suffered a heart attack that briefly took him off the campaign trail. The Washington chattering class speculated that Sanders had reached the end of his political road.
Yet in the three months since then, Sanders has rebounded in polling and fundraising to reclaim a commanding position among the left wing of the Democratic Party. At the same time, Warren’s national polling numbers fell by nearly half. Sanders enters 2020 without any serious challenge to his dominance of the Democrats’ left flank. Now Democratic elites are concerned Sanders could be the nominee after all.
Centrist Democrats shouldn’t breathe easy. The illusion of unity behind Joe Biden may not survive a strong performance by Pete Buttigieg among Iowa and New Hampshire voters. Faced with a frontrunner unable to win early primary states, the centrist coalition currently backing Biden could easily transition into Buttigieg boosters. Then the moderate wing of the Democratic Party would find itself with the same dilemma as their progressive colleagues.
The Iowa caucus offers Democrats their first major opportunity to reshape a party traumatized by the nihilism and instability of President Donald Trump. For the resurgent left, 2020 offers the best opportunity in decades to shift Democratic Party values in a more progressive direction.
But first they have to win.
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onald Trump has dragged America into a moral abyss. And yet Congress, the press, and the public are unwilling to admit that we are now standing in blood. The nation is enabling a murderous demagogue, and we are all complicit.
